Enny Meunier

During the Netherlands Film Festival (21-30 September 2011), EFSP presents the Unofficial Dutch Film Star Postcards Festival. Our festival ends this year with Dutch actress Enny Meunier (1912-1996). This celebrated stage actress also performed on radio and TV. During the 1930s she starred in three Dutch films.


Dutch postcard by M. B.& Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam), no. 13. Photo: Loet C. Barnstijn Film. Still for Malle gevallen (Jaap Speyer, 1934) with Annie van Duyn and Jopie Koopman.

Her Parents' Footsteps

Enny Meunier was born as Anna Maria Cornelia Josephine Mulder in Amsterdam, The Netherlands in 1912. She was the daughter of actor Maurice Meunier and actress Marie Nagtegaal.

Emmy worked for a short time at the press bureau Vaz Dias but then decided to follow into her parents’ footsteps. She made her stage debut at the Schouwtoneel, and a long theatre career followed.

During the 1930s she starred in three films. She was the schoolgirl Kitty opposite student Roland Varno in the comedy Malle gevallen/Silly Situations (Jaap Speyer, 1934) based on a novel by Hans Martin.

Despite the fact that the critics did not like the film, Malle Gevallen did return its investments and was re-released several times. In 1942, during their occupation of the Netherlands, the Nazis banned the film in 1942 for unknown reasons. In the film itself is nothing anti-German, but actor Roland Varno worked at the time in Hollywood for ant-Nazi films.

In 1935 Meunier appeared in the crime drama Het Mysterie van de Mondscheinsonate/The Mystery of the Mondschein Sonata (Kurt Gerron, 1935) starring Louis de Bree.

Her final film was the drama Rubber (Johan De Meester, Gerard Rutten, 1936) co-starring Johan de Meester and Frits van Dongen (aka Philip Dorn). It was one of the few Dutch films, set in a colony, the Dutch Indies (now Indonesia). The film focuses on a Dutch newlywed couple (played by Meunier and Van Dongen) who try to adjust to the rough life on a Sumatran plantation.


Dutch postcard by M. B.& Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam), no. 9. Photo: Loet C. Barnstijn Film. Still for Malle gevallen (Jaap Speyer, 1934) with Roland Varno.


Dutch postcard by M. B.& Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam), no. 10. Photo: Loet C. Barnstijn Film. Still for Malle gevallen/Silly Situations (Jaap Speyer, 1934) with Roland Varno.

Colombina

Twice, Enny Meunier was awarded a prestigious Dutch theatre award, the Columbina as Best Supporting player in a Dutch stage play, for her roles in Ornifie (1955-1956) and Schakels (1963-1964; Connections), written by Herman Heijermans.

On TV she was seen in the crime series Maigret (1968) starring Wies Andersen and Jan Teulings, and in several TV plays a.o. Gevaarlijk tussenspel/Dangerous Interplay (Paul Cammermans, 1961) written by F. Wyndham-Mallock, and Mooi weer vandaag/Home (Karl Guttman, Berend Boudewijn, 1971), written by David Storey.

Enny Meunier died in 1996 in Den Haag (The Hague), The Netherlands.

She was married to Jujutsu and Judo pioneer Maurice van Nieuwenhuizen and since 1930 they lived in Den Haag.


Dutch postcard by M. B.& Z. (M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam), no. 3. Photo: Loet C. Barnstijn Film. Still for Malle gevallen/Silly Situations (Jaap Speyer, 1934) with Johan Kaart.


Dutch postcard by Loet C. Barnstijn Film, no. 11. Photo: still for Malle Gevallen/Silly Situations (Jaap Speyer, 1934) with at right Louis Borel. Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.

Sources: Film in Nederland (Dutch - now offline), Wikipedia (Dutch) and IMDb.